Petition asks Jesse James to read prison screenplay
More than 2000 women sign petition demanding a firm commitment from Jesse James (film producer) to read screenplay addressing Texas judicial system
Jesse James – Talent Agents
– Actor, Producer, Writer – As Good as It Gets (1997), The Butterfly Effect (2004), Message in a Bottle (1999), Pearl Harbor (2001) – Pacific Artists Management, Melanie Turner – Dino May Management, Dino May
Jesse James & Adam Sandler’s film company targeted by Texas petition
Will Hollywood just rollover and let prisoner’s suffer?
EXCLUSIVE
More than 2000 women have signed an open letter to Adam Sandler calling on Jesse James and Hollywood to take “movie action” to tackle injustice against men and women in the wake of revelations that Texas has more prisoners incarcerated than the Soviet Union’s gulag system had. Texas currently has over 290,000 inmates housed at 580 facilities.
The signatories, including state senators, professors of criminal justice, social workers, family, and inmates, call for a “firm commitment” to tackle the unjust prisons in Texas. The petition has also been signed by Beto O’Rourke, and Matthew McConaughey. These two signatories might face each other in the 2022 Texas governors election. Both have expressed interest in the job. The petitions arrived for Jesse James at Pacific Artists Management, Melanie Turner last week.
In the open letter to Jesse James, the 2080 women write that they are “heartbroken for first-time drug offenders many times addicts who have received extremely harsh sentences in Texas when rehabilitation has proven a cheaper and more effective solution.” The petition goes on to say their family and friends are often heartbroken for and looking for redemption and rehabilitation for the victimless drug crimes.”
The signatories, including attorneys, professors, politicians, family members, and inmates, call on Jesse James for a ‘firm film commitment’ to tackle the issue of operating the Texas prison system for profit.
The petition came to light when women discovered the screenplay, a copy which was dontated to all 580 of the state’s prison and jail libraries. The existence of the petition surfaced on International Women’s Day. Women in Texas face extreme prejudice in Texas and often receive extremely harsh penalties for even a small amount of drugs, including marijuana. Marijuana is legal now in 21 states.
Inside prisons, the women are faced with such horrendous conditions… the petition demands that “filmmakers begin to take the issue seriously.” Also, the petition reminds that “even here in the USA in the 21st century citizens are not safe from government oppression.”
Actor, Producer, Writer, Jesse James, has not responded to the petition. Nor has Pacific Artists Management, Melanie Turner responded with a comment.
Alan Nafzger/caption]
The screenplay “Dumbass” was penned by writer and retired professor of political science Alan Nafzger.
The premise of the story is that, “Adam Sandler writes letters and saves numerous women from the monotony of prison life, and later when he gets into trouble with a drug cartel they return the favor by rescuing him.”
The film would be set in contemporary, Gatesville Texas. There are four women’s prisons located in Gatesville. And of course, Texas is famous for putting everyone in prison for a long sentences for little or no reason. The number of women in Texas prisons has tripled in the last ten years, as mass incarcerations have proven profitable to not only the state but also profitable for an array of business interests.
Writer Alan Nafzger has called on Governor Greg Abbott to, “end the prison industry.”
Recently, “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak spoke out against the Texas system and put a good word in for mercy and forgiveness out on social media. “How nice for those who have lived such exemplary lives that they can express glee when others have their lives ruined by a mistake, real or perceived,” Sajak tweeted last month.
During the winter’s deep freeze, the The Marshall Project, exposed the horrible prison conditions, “Inside Frigid Texas Prisons: Broken Toilets, Disgusting Food, Few Blankets.”
The petition states, “Why don’t we have the ‘Adam Sandler’ character… sending letters to women in prison and being their friend and trying to help them adjust, giving them hope… and when they get out of prison he picks them up so they don’t have to ride the smelly bus back home… but his pickup truck is a junker, smoking and sputtering … worse than the bus. But his heart is in the right place… He’s the last “chivalrous” man on earth.”
Jesse James has not commented on the script, thus far. A statement is expected soon.
Professor Nafzger has made a short treatment of the project available online.
He has made the finished script available at for select filmmakers.
Adam Sandler of Happy Madison Productions has expressed interest in the screenplay.
Jesse James is a Actor, Producer, Writer known for As Good as It Gets (1997), The Butterfly Effect (2004), Message in a Bottle (1999), Pearl Harbor (2001) and is represented by Pacific Artists Management, Melanie Turner.
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Contrast can create comedy. Remember the Danny Divito, Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Twins? Talk about contrast!
The handling of dialogue is vital to selling a comedy. Pro writers know how to use tie-in three lines, repeat lines and punch-lines to create comedy. A tie-in three line is when two pieces of dialogue are spoken by the same or different characters and a third line, delivered by the same or different characters, sums up the situation with a punch-line; watch sitcoms like The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family to see (hear) how this is done. I’m mentioning TV sitcoms instead of films because sitcoms use these techniques every couple seconds to create humor, so it’s easier to spot and learn from than comedy in a film.
Scene endings can make or break a comedy genre. It’s often the mistake of aspiring screenwriters to end a dramatic scene with drama, but as noted above drama/tragedy needs to be followed by comedy. An easy way to achieve this is to double check how each scene ends. If it doesn’t end with comedy, then fix it so it does.
The use of misinterpretation, reversals and subtext make any script, regardless of genre, look professional. But the comedy genre often takes these techniques to a new level to create laughter. This is done by including physical humor. Watch films that star Jim Carrey or Adam Sandler as perfect examples of how this is accomplished. Go through the scenes in your comedy and see if there are ways to include physical humor along with the other techniques. Adding physical humor can take your comedy to a LOL level.
After Clarice confesses painful secrets, Lecter gives her the clue she’s been digging for: she is to search for Buffalo Bill through the sex reassignment clinics. And as is so often the case, there is a second climax within the midpoint, what I think of as a double punch: the film cuts to the killer in his basement, standing over the pit, forcing a terrified Catherine to put lotion on her skin. It’s a horrifying curtain and drives home the stakes.
The deal is not enough for Lecter, though. He demands that Clarice do exactly what her boss, Crawford, has warned her never to do: Lecter wants her to swap personal information for clues, a classic deal with the devil game.
– Another kind of midpoint occurs in The Silence of the Lambs: the “Quid Pro Quo” scene between Clarice and Lecter, in which she bargains personal information to get Lecter’s insights into the case. Clarice is under a ticking clock here, because Catherine Martin has been kidnapped and Clarice knows they have only three days before Buffalo Bill kills her. Clarice goes in at first to offer Lecter what she knows he desires most (because he has stated his desire, clearly and early on): a transfer to a Federal prison, away from Dr. Chilton and with a view. Clarice has a file with that offer from Senator Martin— she says — but in reality, the offer is a total fake. We don’t know this at the time, but it has been cleverly PLANTED that it’s impossible to fool Lecter (Crawford sends Clarice in to the first interview without telling her what the real purpose is so that Lecter won’t be able to read her). But Clarice has learned and grown enough to fool Lecter, and there’s a great payoff when Lecter later acknowledges that fact.
But I can see the point of view that in Raiders, the Midpoint is a two-parter: Indy’s discovery that Marion is still alive is a big twist (personally, I think that’s a subplot twist, and it happens in Sequence 5).